Page 27 of Destined For Forever

For a long time, he’d thought it was too little, too late. But his dad was getting on in years, and Sean didn’t want to waste the time they had left. Forgiveness wasn’t easy. Not by a long shot. However, if Zoey had forgiven Sean for leaving her, then he could forgive their father for not being around enough.

His mother, on the other hand… well, she’d ghosted them all a while ago and he doubted she was ever coming back. Repairing one parental relationship was better than none, right?

“I should have understood that you were hurting, too. That you needed space from them.” Zoey looked down. “You were young, too, and yet you shielded me from their fighting for almost two decades. I understand now how much that must have worn you down.”

It had. He’d taken the emotional blows left, right and centre, to protect her for their entire childhood. It had shaped him. Made him who he was. And it had been confronting as hell to see that on the big screen. To see himself through Lily’s eyes—someone capable of more. Someone with potential.

Potential that, sadly, was yet to materialise in the real world.

“I regret it now,” she said. “Because I feel like I trapped you. Like I’ve stopped you from chasing things.”

“I don’t have anything to chase.”

“Exactly! We should always have something to chase.”

That was his sister in a nutshell. Whether it was growing her food truck business or winning Mack over or helping Sean and their father repair their relationship or trying to find him a girlfriend… Zoey never went a day without a goal.

“I’m perfectly content with life as it is,” he assured her. “I don’t need anything more.”

But… was that the truth? Everyone around him was achieving things and living their best lives. His sister had recently won a local hospitality award. Mack had gotten another promotion at work. Jasper’s photography skills were so in demand a client had flown him to Fiji for a shoot a few months back. Evie’s jewellery designs had recently debuted for an Australian designer’s fashion show.

What had Sean done? A big fat nothing.

“I know you feel guilty for the year that you left home, but… you needed it. You needed to get away from that environment. To act like a young person.” Her eyes glimmered. “If you hadn’t gotten that space from home, it might have broken you.”

There was some truth to that, because he’d certainly been at his breaking point when he left.

“I don’t want our relationship to be a concrete block holding you in place,” she added.

How could she even think that? His little sister was the reason he’d gotten out of bed in the mornings for a long, long time. They’d been best buds from the day she was born, and they’d waded through everything life threw at them with arms linked.

Until you fucked up and abandoned her.

One day he’d forgive himself… maybe.

“You’re not a concrete block, Zo. I promise.”

“I appreciate that.” She nodded. “But I can see how much you like Lily and yet you’re acting too cool for school about it, like you’ve already got one foot out the door.”

Wasn’t he like that with all his relationships? High turnover. Never get too invested. Many of the women he dated didn’t stay around. Patterson’s Bluff was a great town, but in the off-season, it was a sleepy place and employment options didn’t line up with many careers.

The slow lane wasn’t for everyone.

“You like her.” His sister pinned him with her silver-blue stare. Looking at her eyes was like looking into a mirror.

“Thanks, Sherlock.” He huffed. “I wouldn’t date her if I didn’t like her.”

“You know what I mean.” Zoey took a sip of her champagne. “I know how you work, okay? The cooler you try to play it, the more invested you are.”

The downside of being close to his sister was that there was no pulling the wool over her eyes. He did like Lily. A lot.

Too much.

And Zoey was looking a little too closely for comfort. After she’d gotten together with Mack, it was like she’d made it her personal mission to see Sean settled and coupled up. It had been twelve long months of her randomly bringing her girlfriends to his bar, and to the beach when she knew he’d be surfing.

“Do you feel guilty because you’re all coupled up and I’m not?” he asked.

“No.” Her multicoloured hair gleamed in the firelight as she moved her head back and forth. “Maybe a little.”

---